Whole Brain Teaching: Kindergarten, "Class Rules"

Miscellaneous post:

This has been an interesting and intreging semester. At first I was a little disapointed because I had taken a class like this one at my preivious school, but in this class I learned more from the other perspectives from the other students in the class.Now I will be able to bring more knowledge along the way with me. Overall, it has been a good but stressful semster. Summer is right a round the corner and it should be a good summer! Hope you have a good summer as well.

Talking Points #10

Education Is Politics, by Shor

Quotes:
1) "If I were a primary-grade teacher, I would devote my time to problems of socialization. The most important thing children learn is not the three R's. It's socialization."
-I picked this quote because socialization is an important factor in a child's life. For a child to be able to have social skills is important because without them they may feel left out or get depressed. Being able to be social with other students allows them to feel welcome.

2)"School funding is another political dimension of education, because more money has always been invested in the education of upper-class children and elite collegians than has been spent on students from lower-income homes and in community colleges."
-I picked this quote because the funding for schools is very important. Some schools don't get much funding and others get plus the amount that they already receive. When schools don't receive enough funding, it makes it harder to teach the students what they need to learn for what will end up on the standardized tests. With less funding there is less materials offered to help the teacher with the standards they need to complete.

3)"On the other hand, education is a social experience for tens of millions of students who come to class with their own dreams and agendas, sometimes cooperating with and sometimes resisting the intentions of the school and the teacher."
-I picked this quote because its true. Students come to school with their own agendas and dreams. Most of the time students just can't wait to get out of school, but if teachers could engage their students into lessons that involve some of the interests. This will allow them to be more interested in school and want to be involved at school and not always occupied with the outside world.

Questions/ Comments/ Points:

This was an interesting article. I think it's important that students can question what they learn to understand more, where they go to school, and what's the importance of it. Also, that teachers engage more in what their students are involved in and their lessons. Lastly, students should be looked at with their academic work and their success of working hard.

Talking Point # 9

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome, Christopher Kliewer

Quotes:

1) "Now we know that people with disabilities can learn and have a full, rich life. The challenge is to erase negative attitudes about people with developmental disabilities, get rid of the stereotypes and break the barriers for people with disabilities."
- I picked this quote because it stuck out to me. Just because a child has a disability, doesn't mean that they should be given less. They learn like everyone else, but just in a different way. When the stereotypes are put against these children it makes it harder for them to learn. They should receive help instead of the stereotypes that they receive.

2) "Such acceptance is the aim when children with Down Syndrome join their non-disabled peers in classrooms, and many schools and individual teachers have entered into this effort, which seeks and finds community value in all children."
- This is a very interesting quote. When a child with Down Syndrome is put into a classroom of non-disabled students, there is that fear that they may not behave or fit in well. On the other hand, the relationship that the child makes with his or her peers is very important. Also, teachers play a big role in this that they help make a smooth transition for the student. All students make a classroom what it is and having an welcoming area is a very important factor.

3) "Along with recognizing an individual's ability to think, Bogdan and Taylor (1989) suggest that respect and citizenship require a realization of the person's individuality. This is true in school relationships as it is in our wider community relationships."
- I think this quote is true. It is important to recognize one's individual ability to think and their individuality as a whole. No one is the same, therefore no one learns the same. This is something that should be recognized in schools and throughout the community.

Questions/ Comments/ Points:

This was a very interesting article. It opened my eyes to see how some children can be treated just because they aren't like everyone else. When everyone can work together, it allows for togetherness. This can help for a better place for students to go to school in and also a better community to live and raise children in. We should all be able to realize that we are all here to learn and we should all be able to get along no matter what one may have.

Talking Point # 8

from Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work, Jean Anyon

Quotes:

1) "Knowledge and skills leading to social power and regard are made available to the advantaged social groups but are withheld from the working classes to whom a more "practical" curriculum is offered."
-This quote stuck out to me because why should one group get something over another. Everyone should be able to have or receive the same knowledge and skills that anyone would receive.

2) "The products of work in this class [in the affluent professional school] are often highly valued by the children and the teacher."
- I picked this quote because it stood out to me. All students should like and accept their work, along with their teacher. If students are given positive reinforcement, it'll make them feel proud about their work and have the urge to do more.

3) "In the middle-class school, work is getting the right answer. If one accumulates enough right answers, one gets a good grade."
-This quote stuck out to me because grades should not be entirely about the right answer but the process that the student took to get the right answer. The grade a student receives should encounter several parts and not just one.

Questions/ Comments/ Points:
This was a good article. It opened my eyes to how some teachers treat their students. Everyone should be able to have an equal education. It was very interesting to see how some schools operate versus ones that are in different towns. Teachers can play an important role in their students life. When the teachers show positive reinforcement to their students' work, the student will begin to feel happy and wanting to come to school and do their work.

1) "Separating schoolboys from schoolgirls has long been a staple of private and parochial education. But the idea is now gaining traction in American Public schools, in response to both the desire of parents to have more choice in their children's public education and separate education crises girls and boys have been widely reported to experience."
-I picked this quote because for me I feel that to separate children in school is unjust. No matter what the sex of a child they should be able to learn in the same classroom as a different sex. This will create a stereotypical look on the real life for the children, and that is not what the real world is going to be like. It'll make it look like one group is better than the other.

2) “Baby boys prefer to stare at mobiles; baby girls at faces. Boys solve maze puzzles using the hippocampus; girls use the cerebral cortex. Boys covet risk; girls shy away. Boys perform better under moderate stress; girls perform worse.”
- This quote shows how children are studied so early in life about their learning abilities. This shows that boys and girls do learn different and as they get older their learning abilities become more different and more intricate. Just because they have different learning abilities doesn't mean they have to learn while being separate from each other.

3) "65 percent of boys complete high school in four years; 72 percent of girls do. Boys make up two-thirds of special-education students. They are 1.5 times more likely to be held back a grade and 2.5 times more likely to be given diagnoses of A.D.H.D."
- This quote shows a lot of statistics. When you look at high school drop-outs, there are a lot of boys that begin to get annoyed with school and just drop-out. On the other hand girls tend to like school more and push through the toughness and do what they can.

Questions/ Comments/ Points:

This was a very interesting article. I never really knew that they looked at how a boy learns vs how a girl learns. In some situations I think the separation will work well and where in other circumstances it doesn't. Foe example, I know of some classrooms that have autism children and they are all boys. Children of a different sex should be able to learn in the same classroom.

Talking point number 6:

Tricia Rose

Quotes:

1) "Profound cultural force..American a society impact everywhere: in marketing, advertising, representations, and images"
- This quote stuck out too me because of the emphasis on how hip hop is everywhere. Its in our daily lives and may not even know it unless we look harder through the lens.

2) "Gangster, Pimp and Hoe trinity are the images that take over commercial hip hop from the mid 90s, there's a market for it."
- I picked this quote because it is very true. Hip hop is portrayed on TV, which allows children to see how children their age act. This then makes them think that, that is how they have to act or dress. These are the stereotypes that children/teens are faced with daily.

3) "Vulnerability is the biggest Achilles Heel".
-This quote Is shown through artists' work. In their songs they portray what their life is like and the particular things they like to have in it. For example: Money,cars, girlfriends, or their house. Most of the songs of these gangsters or pimps have some variety of these things in them.

Comments/ Questions/Points:

This video was very interesting. I hadn't really thought too in depth of hip hop, but this video had allowed me to think more into hip hop and the culture behind it. Also, how hip hop is still involved in our daily lives.

Talking point # 5:

In the service of What? The politics of Service Learning, Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

Quotes:

1) "Service learning activities seek to promote students' self-esteem, to develop higher-order thinking skills, to make use of multiple abilities, and to provide authentic learning experiences."
- I picked this quote because it shows how by participating in a service learning project it can open the students' eyes to what is out there. Service learning allows them too see that to give to those in need is very successful and it pays off to do so. These projects will stay with the students throughut thier lives and they'll be able to use those experiences with other things that happen in thier life.

2) "The experiental and interpersonal components of service learning activities can achieve the first crucial step toward diminishing the sense of 'otherness' that often separates students - particularly privileged students - from those in need."
- Before this quote it talks about students from an upper-class nighborhood to visit a poor neighborhood school. At first the students had all these pre-concieved notions to how the kids may act, they'd be rude, tough, noisy, unfriendly, don't listen, etc. After visiting that school, the students' preconcieved notions were no longer there. This quote shows how those preconcieved notions happen often and how if students are exposed to different experiences then thier preconcieved notions will no longer be there.

3) "To be critical thinkers, students must be able to consider arguments that justify conclusions that conflict with their own predispositions and self-interest."
- I chose this quote becuase it shows how just be doing service work students thoughts could be more in depth. The volunteers work with several different groups and when that happens their perspectives can change.

Questions/ Comments/ Points:

At first, it was hard to get into the article. It was a lot of facs and satistics, but once into the article it was good. It showed how just by doing a severice learning project you can learn so much about a person or a certain group. When others are helped it is appreciated and showed through that person being helped.

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us Linda Christensen

Quotes:

1) "The impact of racism begins early. Even in our preschool years, we are exposed to misinformation about people different from ourselves"
- This quote shows hows these topics show up as early as preschool. Children at this age are hearing information around them and they can't depict whether it's true or not. Also, they hear what their parents may talk about or what they may watch on TV. This goes along with this article, because it's about the "myths" that we grow up around.

2) "This is just a dumb little cartoon with some ducks running around in clothes" ... "Then students start to notice the patterns - like the absences of female characters in many of the older cartoons. When women do appear, they look like Jessica Rabbit or Playboy centerfolds - even in many of the new and "improved" children's movies"
- This quote shows how we don't really notice things unless they are looked at closer. Another example besides just the television, there is also childrens' books that interpret how some lives may be. children look or read these things and think that this is the way that life has to be or might be. They put theses ideas in the children's mind at young age, makes it diffucult for when they are older to explain to them that the world isn't entierly like what they've seen or heard.

3) "I realized these problems weren't just in cartoons. They were in everything - every magazine I picked up, every television show I watched, every billboard I passed by on the street."
- This quote shows how these issues aren't just in cartoons and that they are everywhere. People are always judged on how they act or how they dress or how they might do something. The "right" way is what we see in magazines or television shows or etc. and that is what we think is how we are supposed to act. Time has changed and these stereotypes haven't exactly gone away but they are not as bad as they once were.

Questions/ Comments/ Points:

This was a good article. It opened my eyes to a new point of view and see that some of the sterotypical things are hidden in children's cartoons and even the books. When children hear these things at a young age, it stick to thier brain and they don't forget it. If we start to tell children how life really is, it'll be easier when they are older and out in the real world.

Talking Points #3:

Dennis Carlson: Gayness,Multicultural Education, and Community Alicia Tougas


Quotes:

1) "..Some individuals and subjected positions get privileged and represented as "normal" while other individuals and subjected positions are disempowered and represented as deviant, sick, neurotic, criminal, lazy, lacking in intelligence, and in other ways 'abnormal'."
- This shows how not everyone is accepted. Those who want to be themselves, can't because being themselves is being looked down upon.People should be able to live the way they want without the looks or words from other people around them.

2) "For we do not get very far if we look for what is said about gayness in educational texts. we get much farther if we pay attention to what Susan Sellers calls the "silent spaces" or the "not said" of the text, and what Mike Cormack and others have called the "structuring silences" within texts."
- This quote shows how not everything is exposed to children in schools, only what they think is best for students to hear or read. This is something that is becoming more prominent in our society. Children are now going to school with two mothers or two fathers, not everyone has the "normal" mother and father. If children are exposed to this it will be easier to understand why their friends have parents of the same sex.

3) “Among other things, it involves the constitution of a whole network of support services and organizations designed to help individuals “come out” in a supportive environment and participate in the gay community, including gay counseling services, drop-in centers, support groups, athletic leagues, choruses, and political organizations.”
-This quote stuck out to me because it shows how gay people can go too all of these things for when they want to "come out", whereas straight people don't even have to think about mentioning their sexuality. This is not fair to the gays because when they want to let people know about how they feel they have to worry about what other people may think.

This article was easy to read. It shows how not everyone is noticed/ mentioned about as they should. Also, how those who may be different have to suffer in wondering what other may think when they want to "come out". Gay people should be able to go about life just as those who are straight do.

Talking Point #2:

Alicia Tougas

"Why can't she remember that?" The importance of storybook reading in multicultural classrooms, Terry Meier

Quotes:

1) "Three decades of research on language development in a variety of social and cultural contexts have documented the complexity of young children's language use their interactions with family, peers, and other community members."

- This quote explains how children learn through family, friends, and even through the community. These places and people are where younger children can pick up on different languages and how they may think that something is done.

2) "From these book reading experiences, many children acquire an extensive book-based vocabulary, and absorb important cultural lessons about things like gender roles, family relationships, and the nature of friendships."

-This quote shows what books can teach a child. When reading a variety of books a child can see many different views on many different topics. It is good to have many different books in your classroom, so there are different experiences children can look at.

3) "Many children who are unused to books and being read to find it difficult to sit still for the time it takes the teacher to read even a fairly short picture book."

-This quote demonstrates how children that come from different backgrounds may react different to "story time". Also how those children that come from a background/ family that doesn't have story books or doesn't read to their children, they will have a harder time when a teacher reads a story to the class.

Quotes/ Comments/ Points to share:

This was a good article to explain how children act when a story is being read to them at "story time". Also, Meier gives good examples on how to make a story more interactive for the children the teacher is reading too. In this article, Meier explains how children from different backgrounds have different ways on doing things. Children should read when at home, but not all families make or encourage their children to read when not in school.

Peggy McIntosh; White Privilege Alicia Tougas

Quotes:

1) "Men's willingness to grant that they are over privileged, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged."
- This quote shows how men are stubborn and won't change things. The sentence following this quote states how men can't or won't support the idea of lessening men's status, which proves how stubborn men can be.

2) "My schooling gave me no training in seeing myself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person or as a participant in a damaged culture."
- This quote goes back to ho children should learn more about these topics in their younger schooling years. If this was being taught/ brought to their attention at a younger age, it would be easier for them to talk about it and go about life.

3)"Disapproving of the systems won't be enough to change them."
- If people just go at the system and tell them how they don't approve of whats going on and this and that, then nothing will get done. This quote is telling us that we need to make some actions inseadt of just stating how we feel.


Questions/ Comments/ Points to share:

This article was an easy read. In the article McIntosh showed how those that have "White Privilege" don't really recognize it, because have not been outside their own environment. Unless someone is brought into a situation that they are not used to, then they won't really know how to act or what to do. McIntosh also shows how men have the power and don't want the women to have power. This article refers back to the article by Johnson and when he talked about White privlege and also Delphits Culture of Power and the way people live and who have the most power over others.

My name is Alicia and I am a junior at RIC. This semester is going better than last semster, becuase I transfred in last semester and had no idea where anything was. Now that I have figured things out it is easier to get around campus.